Frozen Brother
by Darkest Phoenix
Summary: Zero has a dark secret, and it comes in the form of someone with a cold heart... literally. Rated T for now, for swearing. And violence.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: All content in the story belongs to the respective owners of the content.

It was a cold morning in Sanctuary. The screams of bored bandits could be heard, but just barely.

Zero walked out of the Crimson Raiders HQ. He required a challenge, since the defeat of Handsome Jack and The Warrior. He went down to Marcus' gun shop.

"If it isn't my favorite customer!" Marcus said.

"I would like to see/Your latest acquisition./In the 'sniper' range," Zero said, robotic as ever.

"You know you aren't really my favorite customer, right?" Marcus asked, reaching down for some digistruct modules.

"Marcus, I request/That you simply get the guns./And then I pay you," Zero said, a frown-emoticon appearing on his helmet.

"Here," Marcus began, digistructing a Maliwan Fire Sniper Rifle, "It's a Maliwan, Legendary, Barking Volcano. Set the world on fire, eh?"

"Maybe I'll use you./To blow a midget's head off./Or maybe I won't," Zero said. He took it, paid Marcus the $2,540,986 (yeah, Zero's freaking rich in this story), and left. Zero went back into the Crimson Raiders HQ, and noticed that Tannis had an "!" over her head.

"Ah, Zero. Grab the other Vault Hunters, I have something for you to do," Tannis said, not making eye (visor?) contact with Zero. Zero went upstairs, woke-up everybody, and brought them back down to Tannis.

"I have done some research," Tannis began, professionally, "And I have found out about something even more powerful than The Warrior, which threatens all of Pandora. Naturally, I want you to kill it. I hope you have the Eridium required to access its layer."

So, the Vault Hunters traveled to Thousand Cuts. They simply ran past all the Slabs, and went to the lair of Terramorphous the Invincible. Zero placed four Eridium down on a small pillar in the middle of a cave. The pillar began sinking, and the door to the cave opened.

The six walked in. Krieg commented on the smell inside the cave multiple times, and Gaige commented on how the bridge they crossed was very unsteady.

"Hurry up! Guys, we have to kill this thing, otherwise everyone on Pandora could die," Axton said, getting annoyed. "...Including us!"

Zero simply got bored. He had been at Terramorphous Peak for hours before Axton said anything. Zero was desperately seeking a challenge, and Terramorphous the Invincible was what Zero was looking for.

Once everyone was at Terramorphous Peak, everyone bought ammo. Then, one-by-one, the six dropped to Terramorphous Peak, where someone was already fighting. He said one thing to them: "Nevermore."


	2. Chapter 2

The Vault Hunters watched as the kid in a long, white suit ran, his black combat boots digging into the ground. He formed a snowball out of his black-gloved hand, and threw it into Terramorphous' eye. Terramorphous fell down, and sprung back up, and threw the kid over towards the Vault Hunters. Zero noticed some cold air coming out of the kid's helmet.

The helmet was light-gray and metallic. It had a small, exposed, respirator-like device on the front. There were some light blue, glowing circles on it.

The kid created a huge wall of snow. He then made a bunch of snowballs on the ground. He picked them up, and started throwing them at Terramorphous. After literal days, He finally killed Terramorphous. He then said one thing: "Nevermore."

"Uh... Hi!" Gaige said.

"Nevermore," the kid said. Close up, his voice was extremely robotic, however it was possible to tell that it was a human, male, kid's voice.

"Who're you?" Axton asked.

"Nevermore," the kid continued. It seemed that this was all he would ever say.

"Freezing Raven is/twelve years-old and my brother./Why all the staring?" Zero asked, everybody turning towards him with wide-eyes.

"You have a brother?" Axton asked.

"What I can't figure out is why he keeps saying 'Nevermore,'" Maya said.

"WHY QUOTE 'THE RAVEN?!'" Krieg screamed.

"Favorite poem./'The Raven,' by Edgar Poe./Middle name Allan," Zero said.

"OKAY!" Krieg yelled.

"About my brother./I will tell you later, 'kay?/This should be alright," Zero said.

"So, since you killed Terramorphous, what do we do now, Freezing Raven, I think it was?" Gaige asked.

"Nevermore," Freezing Raven said.

"Call him Raven, now./He has always told me that./I hope it's okay," Zero continued, half-cut-off by Gaige, half-not.

"Let's just go. He'll respawn," Axton said, very annoyed.

"The loot?" Maya asked. Axton just gave Maya a look that said "No... just, just no," as he turned and went through the now-open treasure room. As they left, Maya began wondering what the hell was wrong with Axton.

Back at Sanctuary, Lilith was doing quite a bit of questioning.

"Would you fucking stop saying that?!" Lilith yelled, her head in her hands.

"Nevermore," Raven said.

"Why do you insist on constantly saying 'Nevermore?'" Lilith screamed.

"Nevermore," Raven said once again. Zero decided to step-in, frustrated.

"Lilith, let him rest./He just killed Terramorphous./Please, I'll tell you things," Zero said.

"Fine. Just... stop with the Haiku, okay? Then I'll let him rest," Lilith said.

"Alright," Zero said, hesitantly.

"That was easier than I thought it would be," Lilith said, somewhat excited. "Oh, and what's his name?"

"Just call him Raven," Zero said calmly.

"Um, Raven, you need to claim a bed. Anywhere, really, just go rest," Lilith said, slight annoyance in her voice.

Raven headed downstairs, and tried to get onto one of the beds. When he touched metal to get up to the top bunk, he quickly backed away, clutching his hand.

"Holy shit, that's hot!" Raven thought. He went over to a different bed, which, fortunately, didn't have a metal post that felt like magma, and climbed up. He slept.

Back upstairs, Zero was filling in Lilith.

"We're brothers," Zero began, "Not by blood, but by Maliwan's secrets. Project Magma, and Project Ice. I was Project Magma, but that story can wait for another time. Project Ice was a project to create a gun that shoots ice-covered bullets, designed to cause extreme cold-damage to anything it touched. "

"Wouldn't the ice just have frozen the gun?" Maya asked.

"I don't know," Zero explained, "Whether or not the gun malfunctioned, or what I heard was true, but what I heard didn't involve the gun malfunctioning. So, for now, I'm just going to say no. Anyway, when Raven shot, the air started to freeze, from the super-ice on the bullet. Normally, Raven would have been killed, but something in his body caused him to absorb the frozen air into his body, and allow him to start making snow-forts and have makeshift snowball fights."

"He sounds like a great ally," Brick said. "Don't worry. If anything goes wrong, I'll punch him."

"I wouldn't," Zero began. "The ice in his body can go through his suit, potentially freezing anything it touches. Oh, nobody try to take off his suit. He will die. The suit keeps the temperature around him at nearly Absolute Zero."

"Heh. Zero. I made myself sad for some reason," Mordecai said, amused then sad.

"Oh, nobody tell him about Project Magma or Project Ice. He doesn't know that we aren't brothers genetically," Zero said, worry in his voice.

"Why does he keep saying 'Nevermore?'" Lilith asked.

"Alright, I tell people that it's because The Raven is his favorite poem, but he actually uses it to symbolize the fact that the ice is causing him to descend into madness," Zero said.

"Okay. So, about Project Magma-" Lilith began, cut-off.

"HE SAID A DIFFERENT TIME!" Krieg screamed.

"I punch time," Brick said. With this, Zero walked out of the Crimson Raiders HQ and jumped from the balcony down to the ground.


	3. Chapter 3

Raven awoke to an odd feeling in his entire body. He felt both nauseated and, well, generally weird. He had a terrible migraine (World's worst brain freeze, maybe? Get it? *Sigh* Now I know how Claptrap feels.), and felt like he was standing in a pool of lava. That was bouncing. And he was standing on the waves in the lava. Inside a whirlpool, which was also an erupting volcano (not an exaggeration).

Raven fell to the ground. He screamed in his mind, too weak to say anything. He twisted and turned, trying to peel his suit off. It didn't budge, so he just went limp, and involuntarily whimpered the only word he ever said: "Nevermore..." and he passed out. His body then disappeared.

Upstairs, Lilith watched, stunned, as Zero walked out. He never simply walked out. He always said something, had a good reason, or was clever about it.

"God damn it, Zero!" Lilith began, extremely angry. "We have stuff to do! Axton, go get him!"

"Fine," Axton said, with a tone that said, "Really? Just, really?" and left.

"I'll go with you Axton. I'll punch Zero," Brick said. He hadn't punched anything since he'd played Bunkers and Badasses with Tina. And even then, it wasn't technically him that punched anything.

"Brick, don't punch Zero," Lilith began. "You don't know whether or not Raven can sense these things. Or what he's capable of." Brick and Axton left, and went to Marcus' place.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite customers!" Marcus said, enthusiastically.

"I punch favorite customers," Brick said.

"Never mind, then. Anyway, what do you need? I've got a new Jakobs Shotgun, and a few Vladof Assault Rifles!" Marcus continued.

"We need to know if you've seen Zero," Axton said professionally.

"Not since he got his new Sniper Rifle this morning, so, anyway, about these guns-" Marcus said, attempting to sell the weapons.

"I punch guns," Brick said.

"Alright," Axton began, "Let's go see if Crazy Earl has seen Zero."

"Crazy. Earl. Black Market Crazy Earl?" Brick began, "Seriously, Axton? He's gonna make you pay a lot of Eridium, you know. And I can't punch him. He keeps his door locked."

"...Yeah, let's just ask," Axton said. They walked up to Crazy Earl's door, and knocked.

"What 'chu want?!" Crazy Earl asked.

"Have you seen Zero?" Axton asked.

"Who the hell is Zairo?!" Crazy Earl screamed.

"Never mind, then. Didn't we used to be Vault Hunters?" Axton asked, with a slight confusion in his voice.

"I punch Vault Hunters," Brick said, punching the air.

"I'm just going to walk a little further away from you, now," Axton began. "So, should we head to Moxxi's, Scooter's, Zed's, maybe even Claptrap's?"

"Nah. Zero'll be back," Brick said. "And I will punch him." Axton and Brick went back to the Crimson Raiders HQ, and were met with a surprise. A puddle of lava on the ground, next to Raven's bed. Over the lava was a cloud white as snow, that poured a wall of hail down onto the puddle.

"Uh..." Axton said, as a nanobot crawled out of the lava. It then climbed up to and rested on the bed. The bot had Orange and Blue stripes on it, and was other was white. It had a cyan glow to it, and when Axton looked at it, he saw a card like you would see on a weapon.

Volcanic Nanobot

Damage: 2147483647

Accuracy: 100.0

Fire Rate: N/A

Reload Speed: N/A

Magazine Size: N/A

Chance to Ignite: 100.0%

Ignite Damage: 2147483647 /\/\ /\ |_ | \/\/ /\ |\|

"I punch Volcanic Nanobots," Brick said.

"That's stupid- OH MY GOD! What the hell happened?!" Lilith asked.

"This," Axton said pointing at the Nanobot.

"Maliwan?" Maya asked. "Pearlescent Maliwan Volcanic Nanobot? Hey, where's Raven?"

"This is all we saw," Brick said.

"Find Zero?" Lilith asked.

"Nope," Axton answered.

The Nanobot jumped towards Lilith.

"Shit," Maya said.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Thanks for the review, snipesalot0! I'm glad you enjoy it!

The Nanobot turned invisible just before it hit Lilith in the face. It reappeared instantly, right behind Lilith. The Nanobot started running, and went out the Crimson Raiders HQ door. It found Pierce Station, and sent itself to the Eridium Blight.

The Nanobot appeared next to light, two-toed foot steps in the ground, somewhat filled by the loose soil.

The Nanobot followed the tracks, and came across several bandits. It simply spewed lava out of its legs, and ran-on. The bandits kept burning alive, while the Nanobot kept following the tracks.

Meanwhile, Zero walked up Mount Hellsfont in the Eridium Blight.

"Hi, Geary," Zero said, extremely calm.

"He-he-helllllllo!" Geary yelled to Zero, who was almost at the chest at the top of Mount Hellsfont. Zero started to climb up the remaining distance to the top of the volcano.

At the top, Zero stared down into the pit of fire and lava below him. He looked around him at the Rakk, the Bedrock Bullymongs, at Geary, and he thought about Raven.

The Nanobot ran faster, and eventually reached the base of Mount Hellsfont. It started making its way upwards. It simply jumped into the lava when it reached the first bridge. It swam upwards, until it reached Geary, and jumped out of the lava.

"AH! THE BURNING! IT HURTS!" Geary screamed as the Nanobot started spewing lava.

"Hm?" Zero asked. He then thought, "Oh, it must just be Geary trying to drink the lava again. Alright, here we go. 3... 2... 1..." And Zero jumped into the volcano. He could feel the temperature getting higher as he got closer to the lava. He felt the burning begin to eat away at his skin, but then it just stopped when he actually hit the lava. It felt... comfortable.

"Lava surrounds me./The outside pain subsides, now./Temperature nice," Zero thought. His suit burned away, revealing a figure, with a super-thin body. The body was red and orange, with a very thin, kite-shaped head. The body was a perfect rectangle, the arms were essentially two perfect blades. The legs looked exactly like the arms.

Zero jumped out of the lava, and floated above Mount Hellsfont. He noticed the Nanobot standing on the edge of the volcano, and he dived at it. Zero created fire out of his right arm, and threw a fireball at the Nanobot. The Nanobot was destroyed instantly.

Zero flew straight towards the Fast Travel station in the Eridium Blight, and selected Sanctuary. He walked over to the Crimson Raiders HQ, and entered.

"Who the hell are you, and what are you doing in Sanctuary?!" Lilith asked. Zero created a fire out of his arm, and wrote his trademark Zero in the air.

"Uh..." Maya said. "What?"


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: Sunshine Muncher: Thank you, sir/ma'am! hdwkj: Yeah, it is... anyways, really glad you enjoy it.

Maya, Lilith, Axton, and Brick stared, eyes wide-open, as Zero simply walked passed them, and went upstairs. Zero went and flew onto a bed, and he sat. The bed burned, and turned to ashes. Zero simply hovered where the bed was, and thought.

"My powers have finally awakened," Zero thought. "Well, then. Now what?" Zero heard a female, robot voice. (Much like GLaDOS' voice.)

"Congratulations, Project Magma," it said. "Maliwan's work is complete. No thanks to you're destroying their Nanobot. Project Ice will be dealt with." Zero sighed.

"Project Magma, you should be happy," the voice continued. "Project Ice is your own work, after all."

"No," Zero began in his mind. "No, he was like a brother to me. What'd you do to Raven?!"

"Nothing much. Just brought him back to the lab for experiments. Of course, it wasn't the most pleasant of experiences for him," the voice said.

"NO! YOU KILLED HIM, DIDN'T YOU?!" Zero thought.

"Of course, not," the voice continued, in a very relaxed tone, "We will not be continuing work until you give us the resources required to continue." Zero dropped down to the ground, and jumped over the balcony at the Crimson Raiders HQ. He left towards Pierce Station, and Fast Traveled to the Hyperion facility in the Highlands.

The Hyperion Engineers shut off all Loaders and started running, not knowing what they were facing. One particularly stupid Engineer started pouring shotgun rounds into Zero. Zero's right arm became surrounded by fire, and, without looking, blasted a fireball into the Engineer.

"I just finished my comic collection!" He said with his dying breath. Zero sighed and started walking. He found himself nearing Opportunity City after a while, and started heading in. Just before the entrance to Opportunity, Zero found a small tube, which was painted white, with blue and orange stripes.

"Welcome," a traditional robotic voice began, "Maliwan customer and/or suspicious person and/or Maliwan employee. If you have not heard of this area from a top-ranking Maliwan employee, you have no business being here, and should turn back immediately. Those who do not will not enjoy their stay. Thank you!" Zero continued on, and ended up in a tunnel of pure black, lit with dim orange lights.

The lights got dimmer the further Zero went down the hall, to the point where there was pure darkness. Zero lit his arm on fire, and noticed a door, with a key-pad-lock. Zero placed his hands on the door, and allowed the heat to course through his hands and to the door. The door melted almost instantly.

Zero went through, and every single person he saw cowered in fear. He began to fly down the new hallway, lit with blue, green, purple, red, cyan, orange, and every other color you could think of. The experiments always simply carried on, not realizing anything was happening on the other side of the glass that protected them.

Zero finally arrived at a large, gray, rectangular door. He threw a fireball at it. The door opened up to a large room, a perfect cube. It glowed with blue and red, and three people were standing inside. Two were armed, protecting the third.

"Hello, Project Magma," the man in the back began. "What took you so long?" Zero stared at the two people in front of him, and assumed a defensive stance. He lunged at the two, cutting through them with his arms. The blood on Zero's arms simply evaporated.

"I would have had them stand down, if you would've just said something, Magma," the man continued.

"Let him go," Zero said in a terrifying, whispery voice. "And I don't go by Magma, anymore. It's Zero!"

"Well, then," the man began, turning around. "Zero, have you met Butt Stallion?" The man was Handsome Jack.

"Fuck. You."


	6. Chapter 6

"You're probably wondering how I made it out of the Vault of the Warrior without dying," Jack began. "Well, you know how the New-U stations sometimes say 'Do not worry, Hyperion customer! Death happens to all of us once in awhile. Except Handsome Jack!'"

"Of course I don't," Zero began in his creepy-whispery voice. "Assassins never die."

"Well, that maybe true, but neither do Handsome Jacks!" Jack continued. "I can't die because I was granted immortality. You're probably wondering by who. Well, I'll tell you, but if, and only if, in this form, you can single handedly destroy every single Seraph Guardian."

"Easy," Zero said without thought.

"You can't use Insta-Health vials, guns, ammo, anything except your bodies natural abilities. If you can kill them without getting hurt yourself, I'll give you back Project Ice," Jack explained. "But if you can't, then he will experience a pain so intense, he will die instantly."

"Nevermore!" Raven said.

"I could kill you right now," Zero thought, "And it would be so easy. Your immortal until your head is cut-off. Everyone knows that."

"But I can't be be-headed," Jack said, very calm. "But I want you to try. Of course, I'll fight back. And just to make it more fun for me..." Jack pressed a button near Raven's observation area. Zero watched as Raven fell to the ground, in-pain.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha!" Jack laughed maniacally. "I'm going to have so much fun killing you and the other Vault Hunters, too."

"No," Zero said, leaping through the air towards Jack. He swung his arm like a blade toward Jack's neck, but his arm simply stopped. Jack was left with a slightly bloody neck. There was also a bit of burned flesh around the cut, but nothing more.

"Is that all you've got? Come on, what're you, the guy who rushed me with a spoon?!" Jack yelled. Zero allowed his whole body to catch fire, and he drove his arm right into Jack's stomach. Zero felt his arm come out the other side of Jack's body, and pulled back.

Jack fell, a mess of blood-and-guts on the floor.

"In the words of Brick, the Slab King," Zero began, "That... was... awesome!"

"Not... good... enough..." Jack said, coughing up blood, trying hard to simply stand-up. Zero took aim at Jack's neck once again, and drove into it, Jack's head coming off. A huge mess of blood was on the floor.

"You haven't seen the last of me..." Jack said, with his dying breath. "Now, goodbye forever... but not really." Jack closed his eyes, and Zero hoped it was for the last time. Zero lit his arm on fire, but quickly decided that that might be a bad idea, considering the fact that he didn't know what was inside the room.

Zero simply stabbed his hand through the glass containing Raven, and Raven jumped out. He followed Zero out of the tube, where everyone continued to cower even more, assuming they couldn't find a place to hide.

"Raven, we need to get back to Sanctuary. I'm Zero. Even if you don't believe me right now, you have to listen to me. When we leave this tube, we need to run. As fast as possible. There's a Fast Travel station in the Highlands. Just, make sure you wait for me at the end of the bridge if you get there first," Zero explained. "And if I don't make it, you need to find a Fast Travel station and use it!"

"Nevermore," Raven said. The two reached the top of the Maliwan facility, and jumped out of the tube. They started running, when hundreds of Constructors, Loaders, Engineers, and Surveyors started dropping in. Then, a huge ship flew down, even larger than the Bunker. It released what looked like Saturn, combined with BNK-3R, Wilhelm, and various parts of The Warrior.

"Well, I guess if you're going to try and kill someone, you might as well do it right," Zero thought, seeing the monster drop down from the sky.

"Run! Raven, go!" Zero yelled. Raven began running away from the city, and started to dash on small ice-paths. He finally made it to the end of the bridge.

Meanwhile, Zero was fighting off the Hyperion troops.

"Zero," Jack's voice rang-in through Zero's ECHO device, sounding like his head hadn't been cut-off a few minutes ago. "How's it going? Hey, do you like my new bot? I call him the D357-RY3R-2. But you can call him The Destroyer 2." Zero began fighting off more Hyperion engineers and loaders, while some Surveyors began powering up The Destroyer 2.

Zero jumped up to one of the surveyors, but couldn't penetrate its shield. So, he went back to fighting off Robots and Humans. Zero leapt at the largest constructor, and let his arm go through its eye. The Constructor fell apart, and Zero took aim at the next one. He leapt at it, but he missed. The Constructor had jumped and landed on Zero.

Zero lifted the Constructor, and threw it at a group of Loaders. The loaders exploded, and caused a chain reaction, which killed off most of the Loaders and Engineers. Zero threw fireballs at the remaining Loaders, and decapitated the final Engineer.

All the Surveyors were now flying away as fast as they could, because The Destroyer 2 was now online.

"Prepare for total destruction of your physical being," The Destroyer 2 said in a voice that was deep and robotic. "Executing !" Zero leapt at The Destroyer 2, while The Destroyer 2 began throwing rockets, breathing fire, shooting Slag, building Surveyors, throwing suicide Surveyors, and absolutely destroying the bridge that Zero and it were on. Zero started throwing fireballs at it, and tried to break through the metal and skin of The Destroyer 2. Nothing worked. The Destroyer 2 was more powerful than all the Seraph Guardians put together.

Zero realized the bot's weakness. If the bot was a robot, then it would short-circuit in the water. Zero began jumping around the bridge so The Destroyer 2 would have to sink with the bridge. The Destroyer 2 noticed what Zero was trying to do, and stopped shooting rockets. It aimed around Zero, and began shooting suicide Surveyors. Zero was now standing on a very small platform suspended above a lot of water.

Zero tried to fly over to The Destroyer 2, but didn't have the energy. The Destroyer 2 fired a rocket at Zero, and Zero's platform was completely obliterated. Zero fell into the water, his fiery body making him pass-out.

The Destroyer 2 activated some jets inside its feet and flew away from Opportunity City. The Destroyer 2 arrived at Raven after mere seconds.

" complete. Jack, Project Magma, a. k. a. Zero is dead. Awaiting further command," The Destroyer 2 said.

"Kill Project Ice, a. k. a. Raven," Jack said to it. Raven heard The Destroyer 2 report that Zero was dead, and created a cylinder of ice around himself. He felt a rage burn inside of him, and felt his suit changing. It became more of an armor than a means to life. Raven felt his own body change. His veins began to make their way towards the exterior of his body. He could feel his helmet breaking, and it did. What was on the other side was nothing but a face. Without a mouth, nose, ears, hair, but with eyes. His right eye glowed red while his left eye glowed white. Raven's skin-color was a pale blue. Raven then broke out of his ice-cylinder, revealing his form to The Destructor 2.

"Uh," Jack began into The Destructor 2's microphone, "Make that Super Raven."

Author's Note: Is Zero really dead? Is Raven powerful enough to destroy The Destroyer 2? Is this really just a dream sequence? Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z- I mean, find out next time, on Frozen Brother Z! Er, just Frozen Brother.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note: Sorry I took so long. I got writers block, so, you know how that goes. Anyways, here's chapter 7. It's short, sorry.

Raven walked up to The Destroyer 2, somehow not in pain from the fact that his veins were above his skin. He leapt up to the thing's shoulder, and stood their, while punching at The Destroyer 2's head.

The Destroyer 2 tried to flip his shoulder, in order to get Raven to fly off, but Raven had dug his feet into The Destroyer 2's shoulder, to the point where the shoulder simply stopped working.

"Ow. Stop. Target death not imminent," The Destroyer 2 said.

"Nevermore, nevermore, nevermore!" Raven screamed, somehow, without a mouth. His voice was clear as day, too. Raven saw an orange-glowing spot on The Destroyer 2's head, and surrounded his arm in ice. He then smashed through it, and left a ball of ice that was constantly expanding.

"Now, let's get that ice melting," Raven thought. He got The Destroyer 2 to run after him, and the ice started to melt. Water slowly poured out of the hole that Raven left. Raven then started punching the coolant devices on The Destroyer 2.

As Raven destroyed the last cooler, The Destroyer 2 began throwing sparks.

"No. Ow. Require- require- require reparations. Number 5, alive," The Destroyer 2 said, falling apart, destroying the bridge and falling into the water.

"Nevermore," Raven creepily said once again, somehow breathing hard. Raven began walking towards Opportunity City, to the point where Zero had died. There was no sign of Zero, other than a lot of steam and some boiling water.

Raven walked back, and finally found a Fast Travel station. Raven didn't know how, but he accidentally activated the station, and went to sanctuary. When he got there, his veins were back where they were supposed to be, and his suit was fully repaired, even the helmet.

"Uh... what?" Raven thought. He walked to the Crimson Raiders HQ, and walked in.

"Where's Zero?" Maya asked, after Raven had been there for a few minutes. "Wait, Zero isn't... oh, no. Guys, I think Zero is..."

"Nevermore," Raven said.

"Is that just you saying something or is Zero really gone?" Maya asked. Raven stared at her. Then he just looked away.

"I'll, um, I'll be in The Highlands if anyone needs me," Maya said, leaving.

"What's her problem? Oh, it's you," Axton said, seeing Raven.

"What's your problem with him?" Mordecai asked, a bottle of Rakkale in his hand.

"I have a history with people like him. Failed Maliwan weapon tests. We had to fight them in war. They were rare, but powerful. I don't trust him," Axton explained.

"Oh. Yeah, I don't think that ever happened. I think it's somethin' else," Mordecai said.

"It happened. Why did it happen? Oh, well, because, Dahl and Maliwan had a history. That's all I'm giving you," Axton said. "Also, because, SHUT UP!"


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note: Sorry. Thank laziness for my not updating.

"No," Mordecai said. "Tell me what happened."

"Dahl wanted to market more elemental weapons, so they talked to Maliwan. Maliwan told Dahl everything they knew about the testing, and sent some... 'volunteers...' Maliwan had. Maliwan also sold them a few extra weapons," Axton explained. "Dahl lost control of the mutated people, and we had to fight them off. One of the two we lost went on to kill my best friend... the other one was never heard from again."

"Oh. Wow. I kinda feel like a jerk, now," Mordecai said, drinking more of his Rakk-Ale. He got up and left.

Meanwhile, in the Highlands, Raven was looking around, trying to find Maya. He saw a Phaselocked Rabid Stalker, and Raven began sprinting to Maya. He caught up to her as a bullet grazed by his head.

"NEVERMORE!" Raven yelled, scared, running behind a rock. He created a large barrier of snow around himself. He started throwing a snowball towards the direction of the bullet.

"Raven. Maya. Stay where you are," Raven heard the sniper yell in a very deep, robotic voice. Maya Phaselocked the sniper, but he easily got out.

"What the Hell?" Maya muttered to herself. She began shooting with her HellFire SMG, but the sniper seemed to dodge all the bullets. He then jumped down from the cliff he was on, and began running at Raven's shield.

Raven threw a snowball, but the sniper seemed to deflect it with his mind.

"What are you doing, Infinity? Just kill them!" Jack screamed into the sniper's headset. The sniper turned around, and shot into space.

"Infini...ty...?!" Jack said into Infinity's headset with the former's dying breath.

"I told you to stay where you were," Infinity said, turning back around.

"Who, uh... who are you?" Maya asked.

"Infinity," Infinity said. His suit began fading away into a new suit, all black, with glowing white slits where the eyes were. He had an infinity-shaped scar on his right arm revealed by multiple rips and tears. His skin was a pale blue, like he was extremely cold.

"Nevermore," Raven said.

"Why'd you help us?" Maya asked.

"I need your help," Infinity began. "I know things you need to know. You know things I need to know. I'll cut you a deal. But remember this: once I have what I need and you have what you need, stay out of my way, and I won't kill you."

"What do you need?" Maya got up and began walking to the Fast Travel station.

"I need information on a newly discovered resource known as Eridiux," Infinity began, walking to Maya. "All I know so far is it is extremely rare, rarer than those Pearlescent weapons you people rave on and on about. That, and it has an amazing regenerative properties, even in people that are not Sirens. In Sirens, the effects are unknown."

"I'll be your science experiment, if you want," Maya said thoughtlessly.

"You really don't want to be," Infinity said, following her into Sanctuary.

"Oh. Okay, then," Maya said.

"Now, I will be leaving. Oh, and I'll give you information regarding Zero. I'm not sure if he really is dead. I doubt he is, but, still, I'm sure you're curious what's underneath his Magma Armor," Infinity said. Before Maya could say anything back, Infinity was falling down off of Sanctuary. Oddly, he didn't respawn. In fact, Maya swore she saw a black figure walking through the Highlands in the distance.  
Well, actually, not one, but two black figures. One of them with an orange glow to him.


End file.
